Apparatus for making ice.



H. J. SMITH.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING ICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I5, I9I8.

Patented Apr. 8,1919.

2 SHEET$SHEET I Inventor:

74 412265596: f fifl suma'm H. J. SMITH.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING ICE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.15. 191B.

Patented Apr. 8, 19 19.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 in section;

' Fig. 8,-is an end view of one of the divisional members, partly in section;

HARRY J. siliirrr, or new YonK, N. Y.

APPARATUS r03 MAKING ICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Application filed March 15, 1918. Serial No. 222,574.

- To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HARRY J. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a'resident of the borough of Bronx, county of Bronx, city and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Apparatus fo'rMaking Ice, of which'the following is a specification. I My improvements relate to ice making apparatus set forth in Letters Patent No. 1,270,455, issued tome June 25, 1918, and are designed to still further simplify and cheapen the manufacture of plate ice,- the distinctive features of my present invention being the 'making of the divisional members between the coil partitions of inverted wedge shape rigidly secured in -position', and in the use in connection therewith of stirrup straps for facilitating the removal of the wedge shapedcakes of ice formed between said coil partitions and the said divisional'members, all as hereinafter fully set forth. g In the accompanying drawings,

' Figure'1, is a diagrammatic view indicating in planaportion of an ice tank having compartments constructed in accordance with my invention c Fig. 2, is a sectional elevation of portions of one of the coil-partitions;

Fig. 3,is 'a-transverse section taken upon plane of line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4, is a sectional levation showing in outline one of the ice block pockets;

Fig. 5, isya perspective of one of the ice blocks as removed from a pocketor matrix; Fig. 6, is a top viewof one of the divisional' members Fig.7, is a flat side elevation of one of the divisional members partly broken away and Fig. 9,'is a transverse section taken upon plane of line 9-9', Fig. 7 I

Fig. '10, is a sectional detail upon'an en- "larged scale showing the air blast control;

F ig. 11, is a sectional detail" of the upper part of one of the coil-partitions'with one of divisional'members connected therewith, both *partitions being'broken away; *Fig. 12, is a detail of a couplingplate by which -the'divisional members may be secured at top to the coil-partitions. The tank T, may be of any desired size,

i P7 -manner as construction or dimensions, and needs no special description, :its requirements and functions being well known in the art. It is formed into a series of elongated compart ments by means of the partitions P, which house the ammonia coilsA, in a manneralso well known in the art.

'Thecoil partitions P, extend to the floor of the tank and entirely across the same, and are formed with metallic side face plates 39,

' p, which contact directly with theammonia coil A. The upper portion or head'p, of each coil-partition P, may be formed of wood, with a longitudinal recess p for the accommodation ofthe air blast pipe 5, which extends practically from one end of the coilpartition P, to the other and is provided with a valve 6, and connected with a suitable source'of compressed air supply. This air pressure pipe I), is formed with a series of nipples .6 6 which protrude laterally through the head 12', of the coil-partition P, to which nipples rubber tubes'may be attached. p Y The coil-partitions P, are arranged parallel to each other in: the tank and a distance apart equal to thethickness of the ice block desired, say twelve inches or so. That is to say the width of the longitudinal. com- 7 partments prescribes the thickness of the ice blocks to. be produced. The length of the q iceblocks is prescribed by the spacing apart of the divisional members D, D, which sub divide the longitudinal compartments into a series of matrices or pockets 0, 0, extending from the tops of the coil-partitions P, to the bottomof the tank.

The width of these divisional members D, D, isequal to the distance between the op posed side face plates 37, p, of adjoining coil partitions P, so that the longitudinal edges d, d, of said divisional members D, fit snugly between and contact closely with said opposed'side'face'plates p, p, of the said coil partitions P, when the divisonal members are positioned and arranged between the latter, as indicated for instance in Fig. 1.

Hence, the divisional members,--being metallie, and good conductors of heat, bridge over the space between the opposed face plates and connect themcontactually in such to act eifectually as auxiliary freezing plates by which the heat is abstracted from the water in the pockets 0,

and transmitted to said side face plates 12, p,

, have'sho-Wn them as connected attop to the:

D, are secured permanently in positions by any suitable means, as may be found most expedient in practice. Inthe drawingsI coil partitions P, by means of coupling plates 03*, and their lower portions should also be: firmly held in place inthe' tank by suitable'means. By reference more particularlyto Figs. 4, 6 and 8, it will beseen: that the main novelty in my present structure consists inmakinglthe broad flat side walls of .my divisional members convergent :upward,the base d being larger than? the topd so that each'divisional member .D, in

- cross section is essentially an inverted wedge-shaped end partition for adjoining ice pockets or compartments 0. This is illustrated diagrammaticallyin F while Fig. '5, shows the resultant wedge-shape cake of ice produced'in each pocket bytheifreeze ingprocess, it, being a U-shapedstrapzor stirrup of relative'ly thin. sheet metal one of whichis placed in each pocket 0, :preparatory to freezing the ater thereim The straps h,- formed with end eyelets =h, afford convenientmeans for raising and manipulating the-ice blocks intact, from-whichsthey may be readily stripped when desired, as their hold on the ice is only superficial;

The metallic head d, of each divisional member D, forms the supportfor a steam pipes, andfor an air blast pipe- 6 which {extends down'to a discharge orifice b positioned at or near the lower edge of the divisional member and on one side thereof. The lowerend of the blast pipe b ,-.is of coursesealed except for the discharge orifice "bfiwhich is the only means provided for the escape of air from said tube 6'.

Thesteam pipe 8, does not extend to th bottom of the divisional member D, so. that steam introduced into thelatter through it may circulate therein'freely; and thehead d, is formed with exhaust openings d 03?, for the relief of internal pressure. The Water ofcondensation may be removed from the divisional members by suction hose lo-W- ered to the bottom thereof when necessary through an one of the said exhaust openings (Z (Z I The steam pipe 8, may be connected with a suitable source of steam supplyby a flexiblehoses, or equivalent means; and. a fiexible hose 5 or the equivalent thereof may connect the upper end of the blast'pipe 6 with one of the protuberant nipples 5 of the air pressure pipeb. These steam and air connections in my present arrangement may be permanent-since the divisional members are fixed, and this represents-a considerable saving in manipulation and time as compared 'a11d the air blast pipe 6 is an anti-clogging airpressure device 6, consisting of a plug forinedwvith a relatively small inlet port 1c,. as compared with the cross areas of the supply pipe 6 and of the blast pipe Z2 Thus, supposing the air to be delivered by the supply pipe at an initial pressure say of fifteen pounds, the bore of the inletpassage 6, may be so small asto reducethe pressure in, the blast pipe Z1 to two or three'pounds in excess ofatmospheric pressure, which is sufiicient to effect the requisite agitation of the water to insure .clear ice. Supposing however that the ;ice congeals over the discharge orifice bfiso astofimpede or stop-the outflow of air from the blast pipe 6?, itis obvious that the pressureqin said blast pipe 6 will gradually increase-untiltheinitial pressure is; reached, or until the increase of pressure is suflicient to overcome the obstruce tion, and theinitial pressure provided is calculated to overcome anypossible obstruction fofit-hissort. As a resultthetblast pipe b2 vautomatically clears its dischargeorifice bflcof any obstruction by congelation, and

in closer relationshipthat enables me to produce homogeneous blocksof fplatetliice, but the use-of the ,dlVzlSlOlltLl members D, bridging over and extendingirom.onecoilpartition to the other, whereby thegblock is formed and. built up gradually fromall four.

sides, as I have attempted to illustrate by dotting in Fig. 1. ,By-this. means ;I practically attain blocks of pure, clear,h ard,lhomo- 'geneous and dense ice of any desired size and dimensions having all the qualities of first class platefice, so called, Without any of the disadvantages or wasteheretofore in- .volved in the manufactureof blocks of plate ice,xsincevmy blocks require no trimming or truing up. all the advantages of. c'an-j ice,whilethe product is superior thereto;forreasons heretofore stated. And ice; blocks produced by my method and apparatus arenot.,only superior to can ice, but-,they are cheaper,

and it is feasible to make them of anv cleios Infact, in thisrespect I. .attain I sired size and Weight, whereas can ice is limited practically to the production of three hundred pound cakes. Furthermore the manufacture of can ice involves large floor space and the manipulation of many parts, whereas my apparatus is compact and requires only the minimum of floor space and equipment. And from the fact that the block is frozen solid from all four sides of the mold, it can be produced in much less time than either can ice or blocks formed from plate ice as heretofore. I

By providing for the agitation of the water by air ejected directly from the sides of the divisional members I obviate the use of air pipes plunged bodily asheretofore into the body of water to be frozen; and

by my air pressure accumulating device I guard against interruption or stoppage of such water agitation by air blast.

By the provision of my fixed inverted wedge shaped divisional members D, and the manipulating stirrups h, I. so facilitate the harvesting of the ice as to save one third of the time and labor involved in the operation as compared with lifting out, tem

porary storage, and replacement of the removable divisional members described in my aforesaid concurrent application No,150,912, Q and with less waste of, and damage to, the

ice. Not only are the ice blocks more easily handled, but the steam or air pipe connections are not disturbed, and there is less wear and tear to the parts generally.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

In ice forming apparatus of the character designated, the combination of a tank, a plurality of coil-partitions arranged in parallelism therein, and fixed hollow metallic divisional members, interposed between and contacting directly with the opposed meta-L lictsides of adjacent coil-partitions, each of saidmetallic division members being of inverted wedge shape in cross section, being formed With an air pressure pipe extending to the bottom thereof and opening through the side thereof, and with arsteam injection pipe extending to the lower portion thereof, together with U-shaped stirrup straps positioned in the ice compartments between adjacent divisional members and coil-partitions whereby the wedge shaped blocks of ice formed in said ice compartments may be removed intact, for the pur pose described. 7 r HARRY J. SMITH.

Witnesses: V 7

- GEO. WM. MIATT, DOROTHY MIATT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0."

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